Brewer helped to raise his city’s spirits
Leaving a legacy was always important to Alasdair Cassels. And he did. Through his Cassels Brewing Co award-winning beer, uplifting the Canterbury region postquake, his passion for Christchurch heritage with redevelopment of The Tannery boutique mall, advocacy for the cathedral restoration, family trips and travelling, Cassels had a lasting impact.
The second son in a family of four boys – Winton, Alasdair, Ian and Ross – he was born to Colin and Alice Cassels in 1950 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The family moved to Island Bay, Wellington, in 1958.
He died overnight on Saturday, April 16, surrounded by his closest family members, as he wished.
He didn’t tell anyone apart from his family about his prostate cancer diagnosis in his later years.
Cassels shifted to Christchurch to study engineering in the late 1960s. He immediately felt at home.
He and then-partner Leith Graydon welcomed son Zak to the world in 1972. The couple later separated. He met Bridget Taylor in 1978 and spent the rest of his life with her, with more children welcomed: Madeleine, Pippi, Zoe and Mia.
A self-described ‘‘driven person’’ with a nose for entrepreneurialism, a young Cassels applied the lessons from engineering school to start Airless Spray Painting, a sign-painting and sandblasting contract business he ran successfully for the next 25 years.
Branching into beer
It wasn’t until the early 2000s that Cassels branched out into making his own beer.
It began as a holiday hobby with Zak and son-in-law Joe Shanks, and quickly grew into something bigger. ‘‘Dad was so talented in business, it was said he had the Midas touch,’’ Zak says.
From the site of his boutique heritage shopping mall The Tannery in Woolston, experimental craft beer was brewed at a relatively low level until the 2010 Canterbury earthquakes put the brakes on.
The quakes turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Cassels family.
They returned on the day to find their makeshift brewery and equipment in ruins, but rather than deterring Cassels, it made him more determined and passionate to make Cassels beer synonymous with Christchurch, and to reinvigorate the city’s east.
‘‘He had a creative mind, always strategic, always puzzle-solving, never wavering. He could make any problem dissolve if he put his mind to it,’’ daughter Madeleine says.
He doubled down on his investment in beer, and soon enough it paid off. Cassels Brewing Co beat stout giant Guinness at the World Beer Awards in 2019 and then again the following year for best stout overall – the Irish brewery’s speciality.
Then its American Pale Ale (APA) won the world’s best too, cementing Cassels as a high-quality, albeit small in stature, brewery. It put them on the map, and so Cassels pledged further investment.
The brewery has grown exponentially in recent years, with plans to make it a tourist offering through a storehouse and beer-tasting experience – much like at the Guinness headquarters in Dublin.
A love of heritage
Cassels’ passion for restoring Christchurch’s heritage buildings post-quake saw him put his money where his mouth was. Over the years, he invested millions of dollars in the development of The Tannery mall and was a part of the Cathedral Working Group which sought to retain and restore the Christ Church Cathedral.
The Brewery bar in Woolston provided a haven in Christchurch’s quake-stricken east side immediately after the disaster, and was soon one of the few bars still open at the time.
Many well-known business owners and decision-makers visited the bar after the quakes to console each other and discuss how the city could be returned to its former glory.
At his memorial service in May, Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel spoke of how devoted the father of five was to reviving the central city post-earthquake.
He supported environmental projects and was a committed advocate of the Phillipstown community, she said. ‘‘These things matter. Kindness does matter. Generosity does matter. Reciprocity does make a difference and that’s what we saw in Alasdair. He was the real deal.’’
Passion for travel
A keen sailor and fisherman, Cassels took his family on a number of sailing trips over the years across Europe, through the Pacific and the Marlborough Sounds, among others.
‘‘There were moments that Dad wanted to share in his gratitude for how lucky we all are,’’ Zoe says. ‘‘It was Christmas, walking through The Tannery, a magnificent view, a family holiday. He lived for good times with loved ones.’’
Galerna – the family’s 95ft, 200-tonne Norwegian boat complete with its own engineer, Seppo – took them on unforgettable trips through the Suez Canal, Indian Ocean, the Tasman Sea and Red Sea.
During a trip through the latter they were famously chased by pirates on a high-powered motorboat. The family say they were shot at by the pirates and that they escaped only due to Cassels’ sailing skills.
His daughter Mia took her first steps as a toddler on Galerna.
‘‘I’m pretty heartbroken that he never got to see me become a mum,’’ she says. ‘‘That was what life was about for him; build your family, intertwine all of your family’s lives with adventure and chaotic and beautiful projects, then tell stories about it.’’
Family first
Last, but certainly not least, was the importance of family. He was the pillar of the Cassels family, those closest to him say, beloved by all of his grandchildren, for whom he took out plenty of time.
‘‘He was larger than life and very much the patriarch of our family. If Dad was a planet, he’d be the Sun, and we’d be orbiting around him, soaking up his rays of wisdom,’’ Zoe says.
Despite being a successful businessman often taken up by work, he always had time for his children and their children, who held positions in the business, and were showered with generous gifts and extravagant family holidays.
Taylor, his partner of 47 years, says he was a ‘‘presence’’ with a strong personality. ‘‘He loved home life . . . and took us on so many amazing adventures.’’
The impact of his death was huge. ‘‘It’s left a large hole in the family – he was the centre of it all. But it has also brought us together.’’
Hundreds attended Cassels’ memorial in The Tannery’s atrium in May. – By Jake Kenny